Rep. Louise Slaughter died early Friday morning, leaving behind a legacy as a liberal stalwart who broke down barriers for female lawmakers during her more than 30 years in Congress.

The 88-year old New York Democrat, who was the first woman to chair the House Rules Committee, had been hospitalized for a fall last week. She passed away surrounded by her family at George Washington University Hospital, according to her chief of staff Liam Fitzsimmons.

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“To have met Louise Slaughter is to have known a force of nature,” Fitzsimmons said in a statement that was echoed by many on Capitol Hill.

First elected in 1986, Slaughter was popular with lawmakers, aides and reporters alike. A close ally of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Slaughter had a reputation as a shrewd negotiator who wasn't afraid to spar with Republicans over policy. But Slaughter was also known for her kindness, humor and readiness with a pithy quote.

Pelosi praised Slaughter as a "trailblazer" in a statement, noting her tenure as the first woman to lead the powerful Rules panel and her decades-long advocacy for women's health care and reproductive rights.

"With her passing, the Congressional community has lost a beloved leader and a cherished friend," Pelosi said. "Her strong example inspired countless young women to know their power, and seek their rightful place at the head of the decision-making table."

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Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) ordered the flags above the Capitol to be lowed to half-staff in her honor.

"She was unrelenting in fighting for her ideas and the people back home in Western New York," Ryan said. "But really, the thing that I keep coming back to is how she was tough, but unfailingly gracious. She was simply great."

Slaughter played a prominent role in shaping several major pieces of legislation during her more than three decades in Congress, from co-authoring the Violence Against Women Act in 1994 to shepherding Obamacare through the House as Rules Committee chairwoman in 2010.

Slaughter was a co-chairwoman and founder of the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus and ensured passage of legislation that mandated women and minorities be included in federal health trials, which at the time was limited to white men.

She was also integral to the passage of other landmark bills during her tenure, including legislation that banned health insurance companies and employers from discrimination based on a person's genetic information. Slaughter fought for the bill's passage for 14 years before it was signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2008.

Slaughter transformed federal ethics rules as the lead Democratic author of a 2012 law known as the STOCK Act that banned federal officials, including lawmakers and members of the president's cabinet, from insider trading.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) described Slaughter as a "giant" whose death will "leave a gaping hole in our hearts and our nation."

"She had deep convictions — on both issues important to the people of Rochester, and for the integrity and honesty of the political system," Schumer said in a statement. "The ferocity of her advocacy was matched only by the depth of her compassion and humanity."

Slaughter was known to constituents in her Rochester-area district as "Louise" and took great pride in working to preserve manufacturing jobs and deliver infrastructure investments to her district.

Born in 1929 in Harlan County, Ky., Slaughter was the daughter of a blacksmith and his wife. She graduated from the University of Kentucky with a degree in microbiology and a master's degree in public health and was the only microbiologist in Congress, according to her office.

Slaughter and her husband, Bob, moved to Fairport, N.Y., after graduate school but she never lost her trademark southern accent. Slaughter served in the New York State Assembly from 1982 until 1986 before coming to Congress.

She and her husband were married for 57 years until his death in 2014 and shared three daughters, seven grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.

Slaughter’s seat has been solidly Democratic for decades, and she repeatedly doubled her opponent’s vote totals in the early 2000s. But the 2012 redistricting transformed the district from one that contained significant swathes of urban Buffalo, Niagara Falls and Rochester to one that was solely located in Rochester and its suburbs.

In 2014, she eked out a win over Republican Mark Assini by only 871 votes.

But the district voted solidly for Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump in 2016, by a 16-point margin, and Slaughter was not expected to face a tough reelection race.

It’s unclear if the seat will be filled in a special election for the remainder of the current term, in which party leaders would pick the candidates, or remain vacant until the general election in November.

Election lawyers say Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo has discretion in this matter, but in 2015, a federal judge ordered the governor to call a special election to replace Rep. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.) — but that vacancy occurred much earlier in his term.

A spokesman for Cuomo, who issued a statement praising Slaughter and expressing condolences, did not immediately comment.